


Believing Takes Practice

by comicc_bookk_jawnss



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29112825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicc_bookk_jawnss/pseuds/comicc_bookk_jawnss
Summary: A clothing boutique across the street had caught Dani’s eye. Having already spent most of the day at their newly minted flower shop, going out to dinner too was more than enough socialization for Jamie. But Dani was certainly welcome to go anywhere she wanted, and Jamie would readily join her.But before going inside Dani had stopped, dug something out of her purse and handed to Jamie. It was her own well-worn copy of A Wrinkle In Time. Dani had smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss on the cheek.“Be back in a few.”“Wait… ”//Dani has a surprise for Jamie while they're waiting for a table at a restaurant.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	Believing Takes Practice

“How - how’d ya know we’d have to wait?”

The wait in question was for dinner. Small as the Vermont town they’d settled in was, the restaurants were especially busy on Saturday nights. Still, the wait, if any, was usually 15 minutes or less. Tonight, though, it was 30 to 45, so it didn’t make sense to just wait there.

A clothing boutique across the street had caught Dani’s eye. Having already spent most of the day at their newly minted flower shop, going out to dinner too was more than enough socialization for Jamie. But Dani was certainly welcome to go anywhere she wanted, and Jamie would readily join her.

But before going inside Dani had stopped, dug something out of her purse and handed to Jamie. It was her own well-worn copy of _A Wrinkle In Time_. Dani had smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Be back in a few.”

“Wait… ”

Dani had turned back; Jamie had looked up, asked the question; and here they were. Dani frowned in confusion.

“I didn’t.”

“Then, why… ”

“Oh.” Dani laughed, now realizing why it seemed to Jamie like she’d predicted the future. “No, I - I put a book for you in my purse every morning.”

Jamie gaped at her. Dani’s smile faltered.

“Is that… ” Dani looked down at the book. “Sorry, it seemed like you’d read it a lot, so I figured you must… But if - ”

She relaxed as Jamie threw her arms her.

“It’s perfect.” It came out a little weaker than she’d intended. Jamie cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

It was an odd thing, she recognized, to get so worked up about. After all, Dani hadn’t treated it as a big deal, a grand gesture. But Dani wouldn’t, and that was partially what had Jane tearing up. Jamie had _never_ had someone who anticipated her needs the way Dani did, let alone without an expectation of getting something for her in return.

Nothing with Dani was ever transactional, never would be, and Jamie was still adjusting to the novelty of that.

Dani kissed the side of her head, then pulled back, still gripping her waist. She was smiling again.

“You okay?”

Jamie nodded sheepishly, retracting her arms from Dani’s neck.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Jamie smiled and watched Dani walk inside, then sat down on the bench outside and flipped opened the book, struggling to see the words through blurred vision, even as her smile brightened.

It was a kid’s book, of course. An acclaimed one, but meant for kid’s all the same. And it was an especially odd kid’s book for her to like, considering her own childhood — simultaneously too close to home and not close enough.

It had, in fact, been a rather painful read the first go around. Tamara had given it to her in prison about six months into her prison stint. And Jamie had been furious, had thrown it across her cell without finishing the first chapter. She’d opened up, opened old wounds. And her reward was reopening them?

Tamara had told Jamie in their next session that she thought it would help her start to heal but that it was ultimately Jamie’s choice to read it or not. Jamie had calmed down slightly, but it had taken another week for her to pick it back up — at which point, she’d finished it in one sitting.

She’d cried almost the entire time, but it had been worth it. It had, in fact, been equal parts therapeutic and escapist. When she’d finished her sentence, Tamara had tried to insist she keep it — _“It’s yours,” she said_ — but Jamie had given it back. There would be others, others like her, who would need it more than she did now.

A few months later, she’d bought a new copy from book shop, though, and had read it about once a year ever since. And now Dani — the person who’d helped heal her more than anyone ever had, the person _she_ believed in more than she’d ever believed in anyone — had given it to quell her anxious energy while they waited, having had the forethought for months to keep it on hand for just such an occasion.

Jamie rubbed her eyes, just as she’d done continually while reading it the first time and to a lesser extent every other time thereafter, and got down to it.


End file.
